BY CLIFF SMELLEY
Seven seniors from Bradford High School’s 2023 football team are now with college programs. Five of those were starters on a defensive unit that allowed 90 points in 50 games. Also gone are the quarterback who led the team in passing and rushing, the starting running back and the leading wide receiver.
Yet there’s a mindset around the program that the Tornadoes, who were the Class 2S state runner-up, will be just fine when the 2024 season kicks off.
“The expectation is to win,” Head Coach Jamie Rodgers said. “The expectation is to come up here and do things at a high level. We come out here and work the same as we did two years ago. We come out and work the same as we did last year. These guys should expect if we do those things, we should win.”
Rodgers said the best programs have a system in which most of your starters — year in and year out — are juniors and seniors. That’s what he’s got at BHS. That’s why he doesn’t expect a drop off, despite the graduation of key players.
“These (younger) guys practiced with (the older guys) last year,” Rodgers said. “They saw what it took and got a lot of reps at practice. We were fortunate to be up in a lot of games the last couple of years to where those guys got a bunch of reps.”
Bradford proved itself to be one of the best programs in the state the last couple of years, losing just three games total in 2022 and 2023 and finishing as the Class 2S state runner-up in 2023.
The Tornadoes have returning starters at various positions, but Rodgers said if he had to single out positions of strength, one would be an offensive line that returns such players as seniors Cayden Carter and Jacob Ferguson and juniors Ridge Bradley and Kyren Green. Last year, the unit helped the Tornadoes rush for 3,084 yards for an average of 206 yards per game.
“Their growth from week one to the playoffs at the end of the year was the biggest growth I’ve ever seen in a unit in my 20 years of coaching,” Rodgers said. “It was their grit, their toughness and the way they wanted to finish
plays. First downs weren’t good enough. It was about trying to score.”
Rodgers described the linemen as a close group, which is the goal.
“They hang out together, they eat together, they walk around school together — when you’ve got that, you’ve got a chance to be really good,” Rodgers said. “That’s a really good unit right now.”
The coach said with their experience, the linemen should be “blowing up holes” this season. Who they’ll be blowing up holes for is a number of backs who could all contribute — a situation different from last year, when senior Willie Pollard was counted on as the main back until he suffered an injury.
“We knew last year coming in it was going to be Willie,” Rodgers said. “Willie was going to get the majority of the carries.
“This year, I see battles every day in practice.”
Battling it out in practice are players such as Gino Addison (junior), Iyen Addison (sophomore), Jy’Quez Cason (junior), Brian Cliffin (senior) and Branden Williams (senior). Cliffin was the Tornadoes’ third-leading rusher last year with 440 yards and four touchdowns on 74 carries.
Gino Addison and Iyen Addison transferred to Clay High School last year, but have returned to Bradford. Ieyn Addison was the Blue Devils’ leading rusher last year with 669 yards and seven touchdowns on 101 carries. Gino Addison was Clay’s third-leading rusher with 471 yards and a team-high eight touchdowns on 70 carries.
“If we give those guys a good crease,” Rodgers said of all of his running backs, “it’s going to be fun to watch.”
Quarterback Dae’Jon Shanks graduated, but in steps a player with some experience in senior Zack Paulk, a transfer from Columbia. He played in only four games last year because of an injury, but went 55 of 108 for 761 yards and seven touchdowns.
In the spring jamboree, Paulk, who’s more of a dropback passer compared to the overall athlete that Shanks was, completed 13 of 22 passes for 164 yards.
“He’s got unbelievable arm strength,” Rodgers said. “He’s a 4.0 student. He’s going to be able to survey the field and get the ball to where it needs to be. He’s not going to throw it into trouble very often.”
Rodgers said you can look at Paulk and be unable to tell if he just threw a 50-yard touchdown pass or got picked off in the red zone.
“His demeanor — it doesn’t change,” Rodgers said. “I like that in a quarterback. You’ve got to be able to move forward and erase the bad stuff fast. If something is really good, you’ve got to be able to forget it, too, and go and
make another big play.”
Senior Jeremiah McKenzie will also see action at quarterback. He started most of 2022 at the position, though was mainly a linebacker last season. Still, he was fourth on the team in rushing last year with 332 yards and six touchdowns. He also completed 6 of 9 passes for 68 yards and two touchdowns last year.
Rodgers said with Paulk on the team, McKenzie can focus on his strength as a runner when he enters the game at quarterback.
“Now, we’ve got the ability to package his stuff to what highlights (his abilities),” Rodgers said. “We don’t have to make him try to throw deep balls. We don’t have to try to make him read defenses and throw it into places.”
Players such as Cason, Williams, Jordan Cason (sophomore), Marlin Haywood (junior) and Mikey Oliver (senior) look to share the load in filling the shoes of graduate Chalil Cummings, the team’s leading receiver last season. Cummings had 846 receiving yards, while the rest of the team combined for 569.
“A lot of times last year, it was throw it up, and hopefully Chalil’s down there,” Rodgers said. “That was some of our pass game. We don’t want it to be that way. We want to spread it around.”
Though the offense has been pretty good the last two years, averaging 29 points per game in 2022 and 31 per game in 2023, it has been overshadowed by a defensive unit that allowed 169 points and recorded 15 shutouts in those two seasons combined.
The defensive line loses sacks leader Torin Brazell, who combined with fellow graduated lineman Jorden Daniels to record 136 tackles last season, but, like the offensive line, Rodgers considers the unit a strength for the Tornadoes. One of the returning starters is Duke Lewis, who was the third leading tackler with 104 and second in sacks with 12. Lewis played as a senior last season, but was granted an extra year of eligibility by the Florida High School Athletic Association following an appeal. Lewis missed a lot of his sophomore year due to injuries sustained in a traffic crash.
“His grades suffered during those six months,” Rodgers said, “but last year, he was A-B honor roll here for the full year. His parents wanted to appeal to the FHSAA, to see if they could get that year that he lost back.
“We’re very fortunate to have him (this season).”
Rodgers said Lewis has an “unbelievable motor” and has gained 15-20 pounds of muscle.
“The sky’s the limit for him,” said Rodgers, adding that Lewis has received two Division-I college offers since being granted an extra year.
Opponents had a hard time dealing with Lewis on one end of the line and Brazell on the other. Rodgers said this year, a player like Jamarion Foye (junior) could step in and fill in for the graduated Brazell.
“He’s going to step up and do a good job,” Rodgers said.
The line returns Trente Jenkins, who was seventh in tackles last season as a junior with 64. Jenkins was listed at 6-0, 290, last season, but Rodgers said he’s dropped 15-20 pounds this year.
“He moves like a bigger skill guy now,” Rodgers said, adding that Jenkins can now line up at end some along with playing inside. He’ll also see some action on offense at fullback.
“He’s just going to move so much faster,” Rodgers said.
The linebacking corps loses Chason Clark and Devon McBride, who were the team’s top two in tackles with 134 and 118, respectively. However, starter McKenzie returns for his senior season after finishing fourth on the team in tackles last year with 101.
Rodgers said McKenzie is a leader by example as well as “a really good football player” who could play multiple positions in college on either side of the ball.
“That’s rare to have a guy built like him — with that much muscle — and who can do the things that he does,” Rodgers said of McKenzie, who’s listed at 6-2, 195.
Senior Reese Wainwright saw action last year when he’d go in to give Clark. Now, he’ll be the player an underclassman will spell at times.
“Reese Wainwright is going to play a bunch of snaps for us at linebacker this year,” Rodgers said.
Lewis can also move from the line to play linebacker, Rodgers said, adding that players such as Cliffin and Gino Addison will be contributors as well.
Rodgers described Cliffin as a “special leader” on the field and in the weight room. The coach mentioned how Cliffin, as someone who weighs 195 pounds, squatted 650 pounds recently.
“If everybody would work in the weight room like Brian Cliffin, we’d be unstoppable,” Rodgers said.
The secondary loses players such as Cummings, Damarion Hankerson and Malakai Murphy, who, like Cummings, is now a collegiate student-athlete. The unit does return experience with Oliver and Williams, while players such as Jordan Cason, Jy’Quez Cason and senior Tyler Berry will also be counted on.
“When you lose Chalil and Malakai Murphy and those kinds of guys who were back there, it’s going to take a little while,” Rodgers said. “It’ll take some reps.”
Rodgers said he’s talked to other schools’ coaches, who’ve said that because of the players BHS graduated, the defense can’t be as good as it has been the past two years.
“I make sure I relay that to the guys,” Rodgers said. “They’re chomping at the bit. They’re ready to go.”
Rodgers has been ready to go, too.
“The older you get in this business, January through June is kind of boring,” the coach said. “You need a break, but in February, you’re ready to go again.
“We’ve been in the weight room for months. Now, it’s time to get back on the field and go.”
Bradford hosts a preseason kickoff classic against Columbia on Friday, Aug. 16, at 7 p.m. The Tornadoes then begin the season in earnest with a road game against Baker County on Friday, Aug. 23, at 7 p.m.
The Tornadoes’ first home game that counts is against Dunnellon on Friday, Aug. 30, at 7:30 p.m.
